Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Those of you that know me probably know of my love of cupcakes. I absolutely adore these pretty and dainty mini desserts and in my opinion, they are perfect for any occassion.

Now everyone needs a good, basic vanilla cupcake recipe that can then be used as a base for different flavours, frostings and toppings. Before I came across this recipe from Honey and Butter, my go to recipe was Billy's Vanilla Vanilla cupcake. However, the problem with Billy's was that even though it had vanilla extract in the recipe, the smell was very eggy and in comparison to this new recipe, quite dry.

I made these cupcakes to take to a farewell party for a friend who is going to Hajj this year and they were a huge hit, especially with the kids. The cupcakes itselt are super moist and tender. The texture is light and airy (I love it when I break a cupcake in half and I can see tiny uniform holes all over) and they would go beautifully with just about any frosting. I teamed it with a chocolate frosting that came with the original recipe.

If anything, make the cupcake just so that the amazing aroma can waft in the house!!

Moist Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs (room temperature)

1 cup whole milk (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line a cupcake tray with liners. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and cream with the butter for 7 minutes, scraping the bowl when needed (batter should be nearly white and fluffy). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Turn the speed to low and alternatively, add the flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with flour until just mixed. Add vanilla until just mixed. Divide the batter into the cupcake liners until 2/3 full (I used an ice cream scoop which was the perfect amount to fill 1 cupcake). Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out just clean ( mine took 20-23 minutes although the original recipe said 12-15 minutes). Cool for 5-10 minutes on a rack. Remove each cupake from the tray and wrap in cling film individually to seal in moisture. Cool on wire racks and frost when cold.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 lb. icing sugar

2 tbs milk or cream

4-6 tbs cocoa powder

Directions:

Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, beeat the butter with vanilla until smooth. Add the sugar a little at the time, allowing it to fully incorporate into the butter. Add cream and cocoa powder and keep beating the batter on high until fully smooth and aerated.

Note: The recipe has been slightly adapted from the original. I made half the recipe and for me, this yielded 14 cupcakes.

your blog is very nice...i must try some of your recipes cause i love cooking at home its much better taste than food bought outside and you know what ingredients goes in and how the food is handled...

I love to bake and I'm testing all kinds of recipes. Sooner or later I'm going to cater cupcakes from home. I'm just trying to get it all right before I do. If you have any suggestions for me I'd appreciate it.

Hi Beatrice- Did you bake them until a skewer came out clean? I find that with these cupcakes, even slight underbaking causes them to break apart. Perhaps try overbaking by just a minute or two. It won't dry out....I promise!

Hi Sukaina I really want to try your delicious cupcake recipes but I don't have a stand mixer, only a handheld mixer...can you let me know what I can do instead of putting things into the mixer and using paddle attachments? Thanks!

Hi DubaiBride.....you can certainly use a handmixer in the place of a stand mixer. The stand is just much more powerful so takes less time when creaming the butter and sugar. It may just take a little longer with the hand held one! Just keep going unitl it is fluffy and creamy white.

I made these cupcakes tonight because I've been looking for a good vanilla cupcake recipe. The taste was really good and it was definitely a vanilla cupcake! The only thing is that by the time they had been in the oven for 15 minutes exactly, they were already brown on the edges. so i took them out right away... let them cool... and ate one and it was still very good. But i just don't see how it got like that in 15 minutes when yours took 20-23 minutes. I followed the recipe exactly. And I have no idea if they even baked right on the inside. Like you said they were light and airy but don't know if my light and airy is the same as yours. they definitely dont look like your cucakes cause your cupcakes are white-ish ALL over. and mine look golden around the edges and at the bottom. Do you think i didnt something wrong?

Yes, I've baked these several times and they're definitely very white. Did you make sure you beat the butter and sugar until very white and fluffy. Perhaps also check your oven temperature using a thermometer as it may be hotter than you think. And lastly, my muffin holes are rather large so I end up with large cupcakes that take longer to cook. Perhaps yours were smaller?

salam i tried this recipe today and it came out perfectfor the first time i hv tried someone recipe from the net thank for sharing this recipe my kids like this cake and girls waiting for tomorrow to make icing with mei will make frosting tomorrow and will let u knowi want to ask u some things alsoif i want to change the vanilla flavour into choclate then i just only hv to add cocoa powder or any thing elseand do u hv brownies recipesorry for troublingkaneez

I have been in search of a vanilla cupcake recipe that is light and delicious. This is it! I made these today and they were perfect. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I have tried about 6 or 7 other recipes with no success. My search is over!

I tried this recipe and the cupcakes were good but weren't excellent as I expected them to be. There was too much batter and I had to add more vanilla. They weren't white like yours so I wasn't satisfied.

I just wanted to add that these are AMAZING!!! I added another 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 1/2 tsp of butter flavor imitation. Yummy! Perfect flavor, moist and delicious! I was looking for one that I could freeze for a day or two to make ahead for birthdays and occasions so that I'm not stressed for too much time to ice them, etc,...these freeze and thaw and still taste like right out of the oven! Thanks!

Oh, and I used 1/2 whipping cream and 1/2 milk in my recipe too. And salted butter. I'm sorry....sometimes people hate it when people change their recipes, but I can never leave a recipe alone. I'm one of "those" people....:)

I just wanted to say thank you. I'm not sure if this is the best vanilla recipe i have ever tried, because I don't believe that I will ever stop trying. However, I do believe it is the best vanila recipe I have ever tried TO DATE. It's so moist and soft and fluffy. I do believe that if someone were to follow the directions exactly, that they would get a pretty good, if not perfect, result.

The only problem I had with this recipe was that it kind of spilt over onto the edges of each muffin cavity. However, with baking experience, I actually set the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit, chilled the batter for at least 10 minutes (covered), and then used a level ice cream scoop to divide the batter into each muffin cavity fitted with a cupcake liner. Once I placed the cupcakes into the oven, I immediately set the oven temperature down to 350 degrees F, and then the cupcakes barely touched the edges and rose beautifully.

It wasn't a very high domed shaped cupcake, but it wasn't flat either. I really like the flavor of this cupcake, because it reminds me of the flavors of a pound cake or a sugar cookie. It has just enough sweetness, and the frosting is amazing. I just added more powdered sugar to make it condense into a piping consistency and to get rid of the grittyness. I just wished I added more cocoa powder, however, because I think my taste buds like the flavors of a sweet, fluffy, and moist vanilla cupcake topped off with an intense, somewhat dark, chocolate buttercream.

Hi!This is the very first time I have commented on a recipe that I have tried off the internet and beleive me I have tried many :0) Needless to say I tried this and was hands down the absolute BEST CUPCAKE EVER!! Only thing I did differently was that I substituted buttermilk for the milk. Terrific!! I didn't use the icing but the cake itself was wonderful!! Moist light beautiful! (I'm considering making a whole cake too) My only problem is HOW DO I MAKE THEM CHOCOLATE?????? Cocoa powder or melted chocolate? I haven't found a chocolate cupcake recipe with the same consistancy as these. What would you suggest?Thanks again for a perfect cupcake!!

I randomly found your recipe online and decided to try it, and I'm glad I did. These were fabulous!! I loved how simple the recipe is, but the cupcakes definitely turned out very moist and delicious :)Thanks for sharing!

I halved the recipe and made a combination of small and medium sized muffins. I also reduced the amount of sugar, personal preference. They were still by far the best vanilla cupcakes I have had. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

Great recipe! I took about a cup of batter and added strawberry purée to make strawberry vanilla swirl cupcakes! They were absolutely divine! Although I did find that the batter split with or without the fruit purée, but it was easily solved with a couple tablespoons of flour!

I have been in search of a vanilla cupcake recipe that is light and delicious. This is it! I made these today and they were perfect. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I have tried about 6 or 7 other recipes with no success. My search is over!

However, just today, I wanted to re-shuffle my layout, but, it isn't an exact layout as my blog. *sigh*..I don't know if I make any sense, but, how am I suppose to reshuffle my layout if it doesn't look like the intended layout for the blog? Is it a html malfunction?

i don't know where else to post this up but, I really hope someone replies. thanx!